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[CATHOLIC-FUNDED SOBRIETY BROTHERHOOD] Hramota Bratstva vstremezlyvosty zalozhenoho roku 1874 [Certificate of the Brotherhood of Sobriety, Founded 1874]

Anonymous

Item #2633

Lviv: s typohrafiy i nakladom Instytuta Stavropyhiiskoho, 1885. 16 pp. 16 × 11.5 cm. Printed in Rusyn. Very good condition. Pages 1 and 16 are noticeably worn and dusted, with minor marginal tears and owner’s inscriptions in ink and pencil. Spots, foxing. A framed typographic title page bears a copyright note below the title Perepechatanie zasterezheno [No reproduction is allowed]. An image of St. Mary holding baby Jesus is present on the title page verso.

A particularly interesting feature of this item is the typeface & language combination used. This is neither Rusyn, nor strictly speaking Ukrainian and not even classic Church Slavonic; but a mix falling in the category of Church Slavonic of the Carpatho-Rusyn edition, as classified by Dulichenko (2008). Such a version of what might be now called Ukrainian dialect was characteristic for most religious (and, rarely, civil) book printing of the early to mid XIXth century in the Lviv region.
Three period inscriptions in places intended to mention the name of the owner: twice on p. 3 in ink and once at p. 16, in pencil:. On p. 3 we see “Анна Савкевич” and “Анна Савkeвwicz” and on p. 16 “Анна Савkeвwicz” once again. Those two variants of the owner’s name highlight the effect of Polonization of the Lviv region. The Rusyn version of “Анна Савкевич” is written by a skilled hand, possibly someone from Instytut, or a local priest. However, the Polinized “Анна Савkeвwicz” version is in a different hand, somewhat less accustomed. This should be the writing of the actual owner of the Certificate who was more comfortable with writing in Polish.
For the rural settlements of the Western Ukraine, at the time of publication, excessive alcohol consumption was not merely a common problem, rather a lifetreating one. A confluence of factors contributed to the extremity of the situation. The relevant modern research we were able to find (Kuzyk, 2010), mentions that the problem became region-wide following the industrialisation of spirits production. This, combined with a right of the landlords (mostly Polish) to sell spirits to the peasants propelled the problem even further. People suffering the consequences of alcoholism, including illnesses, beatings, murders, lost crops, living stock and dispersed fortunes, were trying to treat the illness—with all means available. Including even visits to local “mages”.
The first regular and organized attempts to establish such Brotherhoods appeared under Metropolitan Mykhailo Levytskyi in the mid-1840s. He, however, faced strong resistance from Polish and Jewish entrepreneurs who disliked the decline of profits. Thus the sobriety movement went dormant and re-surged only by the early 1870s. The regional brotherhoods appeared with the support of the new Metropolitan, Yosyf Sembratovych. Sembratovych even persuaded Pope Pius IX to issue an edict to grant some preferences for the Brotherhoods. According to the new rules, such Certificates served as a semi-official document for attendees. Witnessing some success, Sembratovych even ordered “missions” to promote sobriety in distant mountain villages. Sembratovych’s efforts were significant. The Catholic Church used all of its presence and reputation to help. New types of prayers and preaches were compiled. Instructions on relationships with the alcoholics appeared in the press, particularly in Ruskyi Sion, an official periodical of the Church from 1870’s. In a year, 400 000 people enrolled in the Brotherhoods... to a great displeasure of the wine merchants. The alcohol lobby pushed the Metropolitan into forced resignation. But his work endured. By the early 1910’s, there were still hundreds of such brotherhoods, each helping a couple of hundred members. One might think that the problem was limited samogon. Yet, a whole assortment of harmful drinks is listed, the palenii napoi include: palenka (samogon), vodka, a rak (araq), rom (rhum), spyrytus (spirits) and ponchova essentsyia. In contrast, the acceptable drinks were okay for the moderate consumption: wine, beer and honey-based med or medovukha, which is considered a precious local speciality nowadays. Some contemporary authors briefly mention however a degree of police control over the involvement in the brotherhood (M. Pavlik. Dzvin. Lviv, 1878. pp. 280–281), but this evidence is anecdotal. Overall, the campaign was supported firmly—but not aggressively—by the Church on all levels. In the end, the campaign brought notable relief for the local communities. This forgotten collective effort predated any of the Soviet anti-alcohol campaigns by decades.

Overall, an extremely rare early Lviv abstinence imprint.


Scarce. Not in KVK. WorldCat lists one copy of a similar edition, also of 16 p., but from 1875, at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign library, US.

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